Possible Landlord problems?

So we're moving out early next month but lately a lot of things have been going wrong in our flat. Like today we came home and a few tiles had actually fallen onto the floor and shattered in the bathroom (I have no clue why!). We have pretty crazy neighbours that are loud and slam doors so it may have been that? Also the lights have started to go out one by one this week in the kitchen, shower room, and living room.We tried changing bulbs but the lights still don't work so it must be the electric wiring? I'm scared that this will come out of our bond but we really really need that bond and none of these things are our fault. Do you guys have any advice on what to do to ensure we get our money back? Our bond is in a deposit scheme.

 :)thank you!

So we're moving out early next month but lately a lot of things have been going wrong in our flat. Like today we came home and a few tiles had actually fallen onto the floor and shattered in the bathroom (I have no clue why!). We have pretty crazy neighbours that are loud and slam doors so it may have been that? Also the lights have started to go out one by one this week in the kitchen, shower room, and living room.We tried changing bulbs but the lights still don't work so it must be the electric wiring? I'm scared that this will come out of our bond but we really really need that bond and none of these things are our fault. Do you guys have any advice on what to do to ensure we get our money back? Our bond is in a deposit scheme.

 :)thank you!

Maybe check with the Citizens Advice Bureau?

I imagine you'd have to let the landlord know of the problems asap, because if you leave without disclosing them he'd be within his rights to take some of your deposit.

I imagine you'd have to let the landlord know of the problems asap, because if you leave without disclosing them he'd be within his rights to take some of your deposit.

Agreed. Faulty wiring can be really dangerous so you should let him know asap. I can't see how the wiring would come out of your bond seeing as you aren't digging around in the walls, but he's not going to know to fix it unless you tell him.

We're landlords, and our tenants have just moved on (to Council housing; our rental flat is at the bottom of the local food chain). We were amazed, when we went in to get it ready for another tenant, how many problems had cropped up with the flat over the past year that they never told us about (the bathroom heater broke, the water heater, too).

Tell your landlord promptly when things go wrong. He'd almost certainly rather do maintenance a bit at a time then have to deal with a lot of problems all at once at the end of your tenancy.

And be sure to clean up the best you can when you leave. We gave our tenants their whole deposit back, but we had to go a little Snidely Whiplash on them at the end to make them come back and hoover 

Thanks guys. I always tell landlords when things go wrong like a few days after the issue occurs but all of the problems just started to happen all at once towards the end of the tenancy really. I mean the quality in here is awful and the walls are literally cracking so we wanted to get out before things started to fall apart but didn't get the chance! So I'm assuming it will just look like we never told the landlord then?  I told her about all the problems yesterday in an email so I'm hoping that'll give her enough time to fix things up before the next tenant. Not that this place was ever nice or in demand to start out with (crappy neighborhood, basement studio flat,falling to bits!).

Thanks for the tip Stoatula. I'm going to make sure this place is spotless.

Well hopefully the landlord doesn't give you too much of a hard time.  I think it all depends on the landlord and how much they want to 'blame' you for things.  Some like to blame you as the renter for everything.   

So good luck!!!

Well hopefully the landlord doesn't give you too much of a hard time.  I think it all depends on the landlord and how much they want to 'blame' you for things.  Some like to blame you as the renter for everything.   

So good luck!!!

Thanks PB! I'll keep this thread posted. This woman is unpredictable. She's so nice yet I don't really trust landlords. The nice ones have screwed me over the worst. No offence to any landlords on this board :p.

An update:

My landlord is now saying that I need to wait for a few weeks to get my deposit back because my upstairs neighbour is on vacation and he pays the bills (we pay bill contributions monthly). The deal is they pay 2/3 and we pay 1/3. I know for a fact that I've been over paying this whole time anyway so I didn't think she would do this to me. So she said we need to wait and see if I owe him anything and then once that is paid, she can give the deposit back. However, I have to be out on the 5th of next month and he won't be back for weeks. My deposit is in a scheme so can I start a dispute over this? I just really want to get out of here. I hate this place and we paid a huge deposit so I can't imagine this landlord keeping it too. We've never got back any previous deposits because the landlords have always screwed us over but now that it's in a scheme I think we're in the right here.

Any thoughts? Sorry if that was confusing but this just brings back old memories and is making me cry. I was really counting on that money so we can pay the next place .

It would appear that you can claim with the deposit scheme if the landlord doesn't figure the amount within 10 days after you leave.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/23385/Advice_booklet_paying_a_deposit.pdf

So she said we need to wait and see if I owe him anything and then once that is paid, she can give the deposit back.

Sounds fishy. Just firm up a bit. Tell her that you would prefer to do it the correct way. Offer to pay her  - after she returns the full deposit - the average/usual amount you pay on bills and that any overage/underage can be straightened out when the true figure comes in. It shouldn't be much either way.
 

Also, do you have it in writing (email?) that she wants to hold the deposit several weeks?  Might be helpful if things get sticky. 

We had a very nice email from our ex-landlord telling us everything looked great when we moved out.  And then 3 weeks later, they claimed they needed us to pay for a remediation team because our cats had destroyed the apartment.  That initial email was mighty handy to have and we used it to highlight our "confusion" with the estate agency who was the middle man. 

Good luck!

Thanks PB! I'll keep this thread posted. This woman is unpredictable. She's so nice yet I don't really trust landlords. The nice ones have screwed me over the worst. No offence to any landlords on this board :p.

I know you said no offense but I do take offense to that.  We are landlords here in the states and will continue to be but tenants need to treat their rental property as theirs while they live in it, by that I mean when a problem crops up tell the landlord so it get's fix right away not months down the line when it will cost the landlord more to correct the problem.

Replace air filters for heating and air, I know that is not an issue in the UK but it is in the States and it cost us big time!  We had a tenant that was in one of our properties for over 5 years, we never raised the rent on her and we sometimes even mowed the lawn for her (1/2 acre land) which we did not need to do as it was in her lease for her to do it. Anyway she never changed the air filter the whole time she lived in our house and it burned out the condenser on the heat/air unit which had to be replaced. She also did not tell us about a leak in the bathroom that resulted in the floor rotting under the lino. These things ended up costing us over $5000 to fix. If she had just purchased a 50p filter and changed it every 2 months and told us about the leak in the bathroom it would have saved us a lot on money and headache later.

Even with all that we gave her all of her deposit back. I don't know anything about UK law on what a landlord can hold a deposit for but over here we have strict rules about what, how much can be kept per item and how long a landlord has to return the deposit and most is spelled out in the lease.

I am not saying the problems with your flat were caused by you, some landlords are slum lords and don't give a crap about their properties, I am saying landlord-tenant relations are a two way street. Treat your rental property with the respect you would if it was your own and everyone will be happier in the long run. Again not directed at you just an observation.

Maltoo, the UK rental market it a whole different animal so your experience as a US landlord isn't really the same thing.   The UK is somewhat notorious for lacking protection for renters and having bad landlords.

GibbyGab- I'm sorry you're dealing with all this stuff prior to your move out. I think SOS said it right, "Firm up" or as IanP said about the 10 days policy.. You have options, don't take what she said for a final answer. You guys need to be able to move into the new place! Best of luck!!